Obliteration

by Zoe Parker

  “You talk more than before… I like it. It’s nice to share with you. Not that I didn’t like the quiet you, I just like you this way, too.” She giggles at herself. “Come float with me and look at the sky. Take a few minutes to simply admire something that existed before you did.” Smiling to myself I slide under the water and come up at her side. Turning to look up at the sky I let my Magiks hold me up as well. I won’t spoil it by telling her that I might have come before some of those stars.

  Floating beside her, feeling the warmth of her skin close to mine—she’s right, it’s something to behold. When her fingers intertwine with mine, the night becomes even more to remember.

  “There are moments—like this one, that I miss being at the Sidhe, and even around the Feyrie. I’ve gotten used to the bustle and noise of being in it. Of that feeling of home that I’ve not had since I was little. Don’t get me wrong, it gave me part of itself, so I always have it close but the feeling isn’t quite the same.” She sighs and squeezes my hand. “This responsibility is… too much sometimes. I don’t want to do it anymore. The Magiks push so hard sometimes, that it gives me flashbacks of when I was little and they were telling me I was some kind of fucking hero. It feels like I’m being used—almost in the same way—by the Magiks. It’s using me as a hammer against the Schoth, and doesn’t care what happens to me in the end.” I remain silent, watching her instead of the sky. This confession is hard on her and she’s ashamed because she feels this way.

  She shouldn’t have to feel ashamed. She accepted the Magiks but when it comes down to it, she had no idea of what she was accepting. Her heart, too big for her, made the decision for her. The Magiks are using her, will continue to use her, until the balance has been restored. After that is unknown. In the history of the Shepherd, they’ve always walked a different path than the one Iza is walking.

  “I mean, I did make the choice when it asked, but honestly—there has to be a point I can say fuck it and be done with this shit. And even though I’m going to do what needs to be done, my usefulness will end if the Feyrie are freed. That’s when you’re supposed to take over… but we both know you aren’t going to,” she says, her voice sad, tired instead of angry like I expected.

  “You’ve done exactly what the prophecy predicted, so far. You brought them together, you gave them purpose—strength. And the bullshit about the king, I’m doing that too. Fighting, killing, destroying our enemies. Together we’re ensuring they have a safe place to live. I believe that’s enough.” The rest of the prophecy can go to hell. I’m not taking the crown, Iza isn’t going to die.

  “What do we do after all of this is done? If I’m still alive, that is.”

  “There are billions of worlds are out there waiting for someone to find them, Iza.” I’ll take her to every single one of them if she desires. We can open a bar and stay here on earth too. That’s a thought she’s had before. But Iza, being Iza is worried about me getting bored.

  I don’t get bored.

  “You still,” she clears her throat and giggles. “Want to be around me after all this?”

  “Of course I do, and you don’t get a choice about it. I’ll always follow you Iza, no matter where you go.” Those words come from what resembles a soul inside of me. Iza is life, color… laughter. I’ll never leave her.

  “What if you meet some hot blonde who can twerk in high heels?” she says, giggling for several minutes afterwards.

  Months ago, Iza was trying to learn how to dance and ‘twerking’ was one of the moves that the woman in the video she was watching, was teaching. Iza didn’t move like the woman in the video but I liked watching it just the same. Her movements were smoother, sexier… she was also in her underwear.

  “I like how you dance more,” I say, fighting my body’s response to that memory of her. Eventually, she and I will be intimate again—something I never expected to crave from another—but not yet.

  She brings our joined hands to her bare stomach and sighs again.

  “Would you ever want children?” She knows I know she can’t have them, and although there’s a part of her that wants them, greatly, the rest of her doesn’t. Iza doesn’t feel that her life will ever be safe for a child from her body. The past has left a scar on her from that lesson. Unfortunately, she’s not wrong. Our child would be sought by anyone seeking power.

  That doesn’t mean I can’t help push the guilt from her by being honest about my own conclusions on parenthood. “Being what I am, children from my body has never been an option. They will be hunted their entire existence, no matter how strong I make them. Plus, I’m not… what do humans call it? Father material? I can’t promise that I’d give them what they need emotionally, I imagine that would damage them.”

  “I feel the same, really. I’d love them and hug them, buy them whatever their heart desires—but when it comes down to the finer points, I’d suck so hard. Plus, the whole never ending bounty on our heads. We’d be the kind of parents that kids end up hating.” She says and continues, “I think it’s memories of before… and the dragon in me that makes me even consider it, honestly. It’s not something I think about a lot at all.”

  “If you ever truly wanted them, I’d find a way to give them to you anyway,” I whisper. Her hand tightens on mine, digging her claws into the backs of my knuckles. She pulls and rolls over onto her side, using my hand as leverage.

  Staring at me with wide black eyes, she says, “Can we go on a rollercoaster? I’ve never been on one and I want to experience it before the world becomes a total shit show.” That’s not what she really wants to say.

  I love you. Is a faint whisper in her mind.

  Those words are like a warm fire on a cold day. Bathing me in their truth and rawness, pulling a response from me that not even being undone could erase. Still, I don’t react. She didn’t mean for me to hear them and to show her I did will make her put her guard up once again. Something I don’t want her to do, not in this special moment shared between the two of us.

  I shouldn’t have eaten so many humans. I feel her words, her actions, even more than I did before. They’ve turned me into a sentimental fucker. Looking into those black eyes, full of the love she’s not ready to share… no, the humans didn’t make me sentimental.

  “Yes, we can go on your rollercoaster. I’m sure there’s a place that has them close by.” She smiles and closes her eyes, snuggling against our joined hands. That small concession is worth it. I have no desire to ride the thing but she does, and because of that… I shall. There’s no more denying myself the simple pleasures of her company and her whims. Iza is my rollercoaster.

  A light snore breaks the peacefulness of the moment. I laugh, while I was lost in thought, she fell asleep.

  9

  I know as soon as we hit the border of town and see the burned remnants of a dead body hanging off the sign, we’ve found more Schoth. Phobe slows down to a near crawl in the truck and we watch the houses and buildings we pass for any signs of life. There are plenty more bodies, left to rot in the street like garbage. Broken furniture and refuse lay around them in discarded piles. Treated with more dignity than the humans were given. The Schoth were here, but they aren’t anymore—this is what they leave in their wake.

  Devastation.

  Phobe’s shadows are spread out in all directions from us, looking for anyone hiding or alive. We get all the way to the town center before he gets something. Parking the truck, we cautiously head inside what used to be a courthouse. Ignoring the body parts and various fluids strewn across the floor, I climb the stairs cautiously.

  ‘It’s a Light Fey… dryad.’ He says from somewhere above me. Hurrying, I take the stairs two at a time, stopping when I see Phobe, ahead of me, looking down at something. Odd that he hasn’t killed her yet—dryads are always female—but I’m sure he has a good reason.

  The minute I see it, I stop. Behind her is a human child; he’s dead—has been for a while, but she’s guarding him as if he’s not. It’s not for
food, dryads don’t eat people, I think she was trying to protect the child when she was injured—gravely so. The smell of Light Magiks is strong on her, but not from her Magiks. All of it is focused around the gaping wound across her stomach. She’s not healing and any sudden movements might make her guts spill out.

  This was done by her own people.

  “Please… I miss my tree,” she pleads softly, looking up at me with her green eyes full of anguish.

  “Why did they attack you?” I almost say kill, because she’s not going to survive her injuries.

  “I did not want to war, I wanted only peace and my family… this child—he reminds me of my son. They were going to kill him and I could not let them… but they did any way.” She sobs quietly, clutching at the dead child like a lifeline. “My own sister did this to me, she broke a sacred vow for power that isn’t hers.” These words are more angry, tinged in hatred. I have a feeling if she wasn’t dying she would find her sister and kill her.

  Dryads are small in stature, even more so than I am, and normally a peaceful race. But Light, the Light is enslaving his creations to wage this war. Until now, I didn’t realize the impact it had on them. To me they’re all enemies, not faces—not people.

  I’ll be more cautious in the future.

  “Come, there’s a park down the street. I’ll take you to it.” There are tons of trees in it, some with bodies in them but I don’t think she’ll mind. Leaning down, I pull her up and into my arms. It’s awkward at first but I’m strong enough to pull it off without any real effort. The bark-like skin of her arms brushes my neck as she wraps them around me. She smells like death and pine, and feels lighter than she looks.

  Quietly, she sobs into my shoulder as her body grows increasingly colder in my arms. Death isn’t far now.

  Once at the park, that’s less than a block away from the courthouse, I lay her down against the trunk of the largest tree. With a sigh, she rests her head against it and starts to be absorbed into the tree. It isn’t her tree, but it’ll do.

  “Thank you for your mercy, Shepherd. You give it when my own kind have none to spare. Beware the collar—they aim to use it on you.” With the last word the breath leaves her body and she fades into the tree, her soul no longer in this world.

  “No mercy, Iza?” Phobe asks, his voice slightly teasing.

  “Only for those that deserve it. In this case, she deserved more than I gave her. I’m still trying to fathom a Light Fey giving their life for a human. I can’t say that it’s common.” I turn and head back into town, we still need to check for any other survivors, human or not. I have a feeling though, I won’t feel as merciful to any other Light Fey I find.

  The town proved to be mostly a dud. We found no one else alive and continued on. This camp is moving and leaving destruction and senseless death all along its path. We will catch them soon and stop their progress with a vengeance. This is a real force that might have real answers.

  We still have a long way to go, they’re days ahead of us.

  I keep sneaking looks at Phobe; he hasn’t said a word about my personal journey with marijuana yet. When I woke up the next morning, miraculously in the tent, I researched what an edible was. I ate enough of the drug to inebriate a couple of elephants. I won’t lie and say it wasn’t interesting, but it's not a condition I’ll repeat any time soon.

  I say stupid shit when I’m high.

  He was cooking breakfast when I woke up, someone he ate must’ve given him some culinary experience—I can’t say I remember him cooking anything before. I won’t complain about it though. Those eggs tasted good, even the crunchy parts. Smiling, I look out the window and spot a hotel off the highway.

  “Let’s stay there for the night. I don’t think my dad owns that one but we need to eat and get gas anyhow.” Well, I need to eat… I mean, he might but his dinner isn’t cooked at Denny’s. Is it? I look over at him and meet his amused expression. He shakes his head and I turn away to watch our approach to the hotel.

  When we pull up, I’m out of the truck before he puts it in park. The clerk looks up when the door opens.

  “Welcome to Clayden Inn, how can I help you today?” She’s young, probably my age, but smells of old beer and the fun she had the night before. I can’t fault her for being nice though.

  “What’s your nicest suite with two beds?” I ask watching her tap away on her keyboard.

  “We have a jacuzzi suite with a bedroom and a pullout, will that work?” I nod and hand over my license and credit card. “How long will you be staying with us?”

  “One night.” She processes everything and hands me two keycards in this nifty little paper holder.

  “Okay, Miss Black, you’re all set. Room one-thirteen, on the first floor. Take a left at the elevators and it’s at the end of the hallway.” She smiles and points in the direction we need to go. “Oh, I almost forgot. We recently added a gym for guests, you can find it to the right of the elevators.”

  We get settled into our room, I claim the big bed of course and make a promise to climb into that giant tub before, restless, I decide to explore. Phobe is showering and the temptation to join him is chasing me out of the room.

  Wandering, I end up at the gym. The room is packed full of all types of ‘gym’ stuff that I can’t identify to save my life. They’re interesting looking so I, of course, have to touch them. Towards the end of the first aisle there are several large men, gathered around who’s flat on his back on a bench, trying to lift this bar with round things on each end.

  Pulling out my phone I Google God it and discover it’s called a weight bench. Moving closer I watch them with interest. How much is he lifting? I add the numbers together that are on each weight and get a total of one-hundred and twenty pounds. For a human that’s not terrible, I guess? I’m standing there doing the math on how much I can lift when they notice I’m there.

  “Hey baby, you lift?” The smaller one with an oddly orange cast to his skin, asks.

  I shrug and say, “In a manner of speaking. Are you guys,” I look at my phone again. “Body builders?” It’s okay that I have to cheat; this is a new thing for me, and a good distraction from someone who has a nicer body than the man straining to lift one-hundred and twenty pounds. I’m surprised his guts haven’t come out his ass yet, as hard as he’s straining.

  Wait, is that even possible? The phone comes in handy once again and I laugh when I read the story.

  “Hey, maybe you shouldn’t push it so hard—this guy,” I hold my phone out to show them the picture of the guy with his intestines inside out while holding a weight bar across his shoulders. “Had an accident from it.”

  They’re not amused.The varying looks of anger on their faces is enough to make me question sharing the story. Not because I’m afraid but more because if they push it, they’ll get hurt.

  “Are you saying I’m a pussy?” the one on the bench demands, slamming the bar up into the holder with a clatter of weights and sitting up. His face is so red that if I turned the light off he’d glow in the dark like a Christmas light.

  “Well, yes and no? I think it was directed more towards the health of your intestines and lifting more than you feasibly can,” I explain.

  “You do it then since you’re a fucking know-it-all!” He gets up and points at the bench. Shrugging, I walk over and lift the bar one handed and hold it out to him. His eyes are round as saucers as he stares at me and asks, “You lift bro?”

  Laughing at the comical expressions on their faces, I put the bar back and cross my arms. “Sort of,” I say vaguely.

  “Can you lift more? You’re such a little thing.” I bend over and pick up the weight bench weights an all. “Holy fuck, you’re an alien aren’t you?!”

  I drop the bench with a bang and turn to him. “I can say with all honesty that I’m not an alien.”

  “Bullshit, no woman your size can lift something like that. Leroy, go call the cops. We’ll keep an eye on her until she gets here.”

&nb
sp; “Uh, I dunno man… she might not like being kept anywhere.” Leroy is obviously the smartest of the group.

  “Look, I’m not an alien, I’m simply strong for my size… so why don’t you go back to blowing your asshole out and I’ll go back to my room and eat some pizza. Deal?” Yeah, he’s already calling the cops and my dreams of hot pizza go right down the toilet.

  See, this is why I should never be left alone to wander, I always manage to get myself in trouble. Usually, completely by accident. Mostly because I don’t know how to pretend to be human; I either take things too literal or accidentally show my not-human status some other stupid way.

  I.E: Lifting an entire weight bench with all the weights that probably weighs four-hundred pounds.

  Despite them calling the cops, I don’t want to brawl with them, but I don’t want to get kicked out of the hotel either.

  With a sigh, I send out a call for help. ‘Phobe, I’ve maybe done a thing.’

  His answer comes quicker than I expect. ‘I’m aware, I’m standing in the doorway behind you.’ Oh. The presence at my back gets stronger as he moves closer, coming to stand beside me. I look over at him as he holds his empty hand out.

  “I’m Officer Darren, what seems to be the problem gentlemen?” he asks. His voice no longer the one I know. Instead, it’s one of the many circulating around in his gullet. He has a bit of a twang to it too. It’s kinda cute.

  “She’s an alien,” Leroy says, pointing at me. Well, there goes him being the smartest one.

  “I think you’re mistaken. Aliens have pointy ears and are all tall, blonde. This gal here is short, with red hair and freckles.” I don’t have freckles but it’s nice of him to add them. “Rumors at the office said there might be some contaminants in the water that are making people have bursts of super strength. Perhaps, that’s the case here?” He waves towards the bench and with a sigh I pretend like I can’t pick it up.